BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 79 



The former has been recorded from Uganda by two writers, but in 

 both cases the birds are of the latter species. Ogilvie-Grant ^* erron- 

 eously reported a bird from Mulema as crassirostris^ a mistake that 

 was promptly corrected by Shelley.^^ Van Someren '^^ reported one 

 from Toro, Uganda. Meinertzhagen," however, lists albicollis 

 from Toro and crassirostris only from Ethiopia, British Somaliland, 

 and the Sudan. Inasmuch as van Someren's collection is partly at 

 Tring, where Meinertzhagen worked, it appears that the latter's 

 record of albicolUs and the former's of crassirostris may be based on 

 one and the same bird, and that it really may be albicollis. 



Kleinschmidt ^^ considers these two forms conspecific, and accord- 

 ingly calls the present one C. albicolUs crassirostris. While it is 

 true that the two are geographical representatives, they are very 

 distinct from each other, and have not been found to intergrade at 

 all, so it is better to treat them as specific entities. 



The present series are in worn plumage, and two of the birds are 

 actually in molt. As these two represent the extreme dates of the 

 series, it may be inferred that the molting season is a prolonged 

 one. The size variations of this raven are indicated in table 12. 



Von Heuglin ^^ found this bird from 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) 

 up to the snow line. In the Wogara region he found it bi-eeding 

 in March. Kleinschmidt, quoting Hilgert, records a nest with two 

 young birds at Gara Mulata near Harrar on March 20. The fact 

 that some of the series collected by the Frick expedition were molt- 

 ing when shot in December indicates that the breeding season is 

 less restricted than these two nesting dates might suggest. 



In his field notes written at Adis Abeba, December 26 to January 

 7, Mearns records this bird as "abundant. None seen before reach- 

 ing this place. A dozen may be seen feeding with kites and vultures 

 in the hotel grounds. It carries its neck extended in flight, which, 

 with its enormous bill, gives it somewhat the appearance of a horn- 

 bill. Its note is a deep, very rough croak." 



Apparently Mearns did not see this raven between the time he 

 left the plateau of Adis Abeba and his arrival in the lake district 

 of southern Shoa. From March 7 to 13 at Aletta he noted 200 of 

 them; at Loco and Gidabo River, March 13-17, 100 more were seen. 

 The species became markedly less numerous south of Gidabo River, 

 as during a period over six weeks (March 29-May 17) at Gato River 

 near Gardula, only 3 individuals were observed. 



''* Ibis, 1905, p. 201. 



"The birds of Africa, etc., vol. 5, pt. 1, p. 139, 1905. 



™ Ibis, 1916, p. 397 ; and Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 126, 1922. 



■" Nov. Zool., vol. 33, pp. 96-97, 1926. 



■'s Jouin. fur Orn., 1906, p. 82. 



" Ornithologie Nordost-Afrika's, etc., vol. 1, p. 507, 1869. 



